Dinosaurs review - Super Nintendo

Kids eh? Leave them alone for five minutes with your experimental time machine and they get up to all sorts of no good. For instance, Tim and Penny, nephew and niece of a chronology-warping scientist have stolen their uncle's pride and joy and taken it for a spin to the dawn of time. Sadly the pair were separated from their transport during its touchdown in pre-Stone Age times, and the priceless machine fell into the hands of the nefarious Mr Big, dinosaur ancestor of today's crime bosses.

Luckily for the twins they landed in a particularly hospitable area of swamp land, where they quickly befriended two dinosaurs. Wishing to rid the land of Mr Big and reclaim the powerful time machine, they join forces and head towards Mr Big's hideout, far across the platform landscape of Prehsitory.

However, should our chums take too long in their quest.. their prize foe will have his chance to take over the world with the aid of his new found toy.

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Dinosaurs certainly is a strange game. Sure, the graphics are a little odd-ball, although they are excellent. The still screen shots look good enough, but things are even better in motion. What's really strange about the game is its design. On the one hand, the game is packed with innovative and original features with stacks of challenging puzzles and feats of manual dexterity to make life tough on you. On the other hand, there is an extra life dished out on pretty much every life, so it's a long time before you have to use any of the unlimited credits at your disposal, as if Irem want you to complete the game overnight. Dinosaurs is very original, which is rar enough thing at the moment, and it is indeed very playable, except for some atrocious slowdown problems. But the trouble is unless you've got extraordinary willpower (it's way too easy to continue) and can resist the added temptation of the password system, Dinosaurs won't last you more than a weekend. For this reason and its undoubted graphical appeal, Dinosaurs is really one for the younger players.

How crap do Irem think us players are? Not only does Dinosaurs feature unlimited continues, but extra lives are given virtually every level AND there's a password system too! The upshot of this is that it's virtually impossible to crack the entire game within a few hours. Doh! It's a shame, really, because Dinosaurs is packed full of neat ideas and features some great screens. Okay, so the game slows down occasionally, but it doesn't mar the fun and enjoyment. What does do that is the lack of challenge. It's all over before you know it. Without all the player help and with a little more challenge, Dinosaurs could have been brill. As it is, only beginners and children will get anything out of it.